Soy bean crusher



I Jan. 9, 1940. V FORD ET AL 2,186,066

SOY BEAN CBUSHER Filed No v. 1, 1937 11v VENTOR I Patented Jan. 9, 1940 SOY BEAN CRUSHER Henry Ford and Robert A. Boyer, Dear-born, Mich, assignors to Ford Motor Company, Dearborn,

Mich, a corporation of Delaware Application November 1, 1937, Serial No. 172,108

/ 2 Claims.

The object of our invention is to provide a crusher especially adapted for crushing soy beans in preparation for the extraction of the oil therefrom.

Specifically our invention comprises a machine having a pair of, rolls therein which are adapted to rotate together'at a relatively high peripheral speed and between which the beans are crushed. The novel feature of this invention is that the beans are flattened in such manner that each individual bean requires about 45 degrees of rotation of the rollers to flatten same. This produces a much longer duration for crushing than would occur in a conventional roller type crusher having a roller diametermany times that of the device disclosed herein. For this reason the power required to operate our improved machine is considerably less than that required to operate-other types of crushers of equal capacity.

With these and other objects in view our invention consists in the arrangement, construction and combination of the various parts of our improved device, as described in our specification, claimed in our claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

-Figure l is a side elevation of our improved crusher, a portion thereof being broken away through the center line of the rolls to better illustrate the construction.

Figure 2 is a sectional view, taken upon the line 2-2 of Figure-,1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view, taken upon line 3-8 of Figure l, and

the

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view illustrating and for deflecting the flakes therefrom.

Referring to the accompanying drawing we have used the reference numeral ill to indicate the base plate upon which our machine is constructed. A pillow block II, is secured to the plate ill at one end thereof, said block having a shaft 12 rotatably mounted therein. A pulley I3 is secured to the shaft l2 adjacent to one end of the base plate I0, while a roller I4 is formed integrally with the inner end of the shaft l2.

Adiustably mounted upon the other end of the plate III we have provided a bracket I! which is bolted thereto; A pivot pin it is fixed tothe bracket l5 and a bearing block I! is pivotally se- 50' cured to the pin It. The block I1 is provided with a driven shaft; i8 rotatably mounted therein which, when the block is in its normal vertical position, is in substantial axial alignment with the shaft l2. A face plate It is formed intell grally withthe inner end of the shaft 18 and a the means for feeding the beans into the crusher (Cl. 83-9i ring 20 is fixed to the plate I! so as to enclose the periphery of the roller H. It will be. noted that the bore of the ring 20 is materially larger thanthe diameter of the roller l4. Thepurpose of adjustably mounting the bracket I5 is to main- 6 tain close alignment between the roller and ring over the full length of the roller.

I A pair of arms. 2| are formed integrally with the bracket l5 and extend upwardly to substantial vertical alignment with the shaft l8, the arms projecting from the respective ends of the bracket IS. A compression spring 22 is interposed between the ends of the bearing block IT and these respective arms,- the pressure exerted by the springs 22 being adjustable by means of ad- 1 lusting studs 23. From the foregoing it will be seen that the bearing block I! will be urged by the springs 22 in the direction shown by arrow it so that the ring 20 will bear against one point on the periphcry of the roller M, as shown in Figure 2. A pair of arms 25 extends upwardly from the opposite side of the bracket IS, the upper ends of which arms 23 have limiting screws 26 threaded therein which limit the swinging movementof the bearing block H. The screws 26 may be ad- .iusted to maintain adeflnlte clearance between the roller H and ring 20 so that should only a small quantity of beans be fed into the machine, the same will not be flattened to an extent greater than the minimum clearance provided. When it is desired to crush the beans to extremely thin flakes, as is required in the extraction of oil therefrom, it may be desirable to loosen the screws 26 so that the ring 20 bears directly against the roller M. The springs 22 are com; pressed so that an extremely high pressure will be required to deflect the ring 20 laterally sufiicient to allow any but the thinnest of flakes to pass between the roller I4 and the ring 20.

' Referring to Figure 4, we have shown diagrammatically means for. feeding the beans into the machine and deflecting the flakes therefrom. This mechanism comprises a tube 21 which is interposed between the roller I 4 and ring 20 diametrically opposite to the point of contact. The upper end of the tube 21 is connected to a hopper 28. A scraper blade 33 is mounted just below the tube 21 in position between the roller l4. and ring 2|! as to form a pair of knife edges which scrape the flaked beans from both of the members should they for any reason tend to adhere thereto. The path the beans take in entering the machine is shown by arrow 28 and that beans are then fed into the hopper 28.

taken when they are discharged is shown by arrow 30.

In the operation of the machine the pulley i3 is driven between 1500 and 2000 R. P. M. and The beans are then conducted to the space between v the roller i4 and ring 20. The beans are then carried upwardly by the roller to the position between the roller hi and ring 20. At this point the beans are rapidly carried downwardly and squeezed to the thickness corresponding to the distance between the roller l4 and ring 20 at the closest point. This distance is controlled to a large extent by the adjustment of the springs 22. The flaked beans are then directed upwardly against the scraper blade Some changes may be made in the arrangement, construction, and combination of the various parts of our improved device without departing from the spirit of our invention and it is our intention to cover by our claims such changes as may reasonably be included within the scope thereof.

We claim as our invention:

. 1. A crusher of the class described comprising a base plate, a pillow block mounted upon said base plate, a driving shaft rotatably mounted in said pillow block, said shaft having a means for rotating same secured to one end thereof and having a roller secured to the other end thereof, a bearing block pivotally mounted upon said base plate adjacent to the roller end ofsaid shaft, said bearing block having a driven shaft rotatably mounted therein in substantial axial alignment with said first mentioned shaft, said bearing block being pivotally mounted so that said driven shaft may swing in an are passing through the axis of said driving shaft, a ring member secured to the end of said driven shaft adjacent to said roller, said ring member enclosing the periphery of said roller and having a bore materially larger than the periphery of said roller, a pair of arms extending from said base plate to position adjacent to said bearing block, a compression spring disposed between the upper end of, each of said arms and said bearing block to resiliently urge said bearing block laterally so that said ring will bear against said roller at one point around its periphery, and means for feeding the material to be crushed between said roller and said ring at the 1: point of greatest separation therebetween.

2. A crusher of the class described comprising, a base plate, a pillow block mounted upon said base plate, a driving shaft rotatably mounted in said pillow block, a roller formed integrally with i one end of said driving shaft, means disposed on the other end of said driving shaft for rotating same, a bearing block having a driven shaft rotatably mounted therein, said bearing block being pivotally mounted upon said base plate so as to swing in such are that the axis of said driven shaft swings radially toward and from the axis of said driving shaft, 2. ring fixed to the end of said driven shaft adjacent to said roll, said ring enclosing said roller and having a bore materially larger than the periphery thereof, means for resiliently urging said bearing block laterally so that said ring bears against one point on the periphery of said roller, a. tube disposed in the space between said roller and ring at the point of greatest'separation therebetween, said tube extending at an angle to the axis of said driving shaft, and a scraper blade fitting the space between said roller and said ring, said blade defleeting the material to be crushed from the space between said roller and ring, for the purpose described.

HENRY FORD. ROBERT A. BOYER. 

